1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates generally to an electric power management system and method of operating the same. More specifically, the disclosure relates to pooling of electric power requests according to various criteria for a subsequent, highly-ordered satisfaction of the same by the electric power utility providing the electric power to the devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Electric service providers face an ever increasing demand for electricity. However, this demand is not static and may vary significantly over any given period of time. Even within commonly-defined time periods, the demand for electricity can vary significantly, such as within one day, between two or more days or weeks, or throughout the seasons or the calendar year. Consequently, electric service providers need to match their supply with the dynamic demand by producing or buying more electricity than is needed in order to be able to meet peak demands. In turn, this often means that coal plants, gas turbines etc. have to be brought on-line (started up) or taken off-line (stopped) as needed, which may in turn result in those plants being operated even though the peak dynamic electric power demand isn't continuously present. This is wasteful of energy producing resources since excess electricity must be stored until a rise in demand is presented. Even less desirable, the electric power company may be forced to sell the excess power supply at a loss.
On a smaller scale, certain operational control systems exist that provide electric power to a plurality of power consumption systems by combining expected power consumption for each such consumption system and adjudicating the power supplying power to the plurality based on the total expected power consumption. U.S. Pat. No. 7,376,490, issued to Ueno et al., provides such a system in the context of semiconductor wafer fabrication facility. In the system of Ueno et al., certain power consuming devices have high dynamic power spikes during certain phases of their operation as part of the wafer fabrication process. The problem with this is that certain power margins at the power supply need to be ensured, meaning either that that the power supplies need to be large, and consequently expensive, to handle the large dynamic spikes or all the devices cannot be operated without coordination. The Ueno et al. invention solves this problem using an expected operational start time decision unit that manages the overall expected power consumption of the plurality of power consumption devices and delaying temporary operational start times of an idling power consumption system as needed so as to maintain the required power margin of the power supply.
In other existing systems, the operation time of specific devices are altered by an electric demand control device in which a power consumption integrated value for each of a plurality of power consuming devices is calculated. Two U.S. Pat. Application Pubs., No. 2009/0234511A1 and 2009/0018705—both to Ouchi et al., disclose such a unit. In the Ouchi et al. applications, integrated power consumption integrals of power consuming devices are used to predict the operation of those devices in the presence of an environmental condition that alters their otherwise steady-state power requirements. Ouchi et al. then evaluates total power consumption of all such devices within operational time zones in view of these power consumption predicted values and changes the operational times of the units if the total power consumption exceeds a target within any particular time zone.
None of these systems solve the more complex problem of managing a pool of electrical consuming devices in a coordinated and controlled manner where those devices are demanding electrical service within an entire electric power grid. Thus the need exists to provide for a dynamic allocation and control mechanism according to the present invention so as to reduce economic inefficiencies within the overall electric power supply and distribution system. Further, associated consumer efficiencies and cost optimization may also be realized simultaneously with the present invention.